When purchasing home improvement products like replacement windows, roofing, or siding, buyer behavior can be influenced by several factors. One of the biggest challenges for homeowners is selecting a contractor from national brands to local businesses working from their homes, who inundate homeowners with never-ending and confusing offers.
Major Homes has served tens of thousands of Queens and Long Island customers. We are proud that second and even third generations of our original customers back in 1919 continue to choose us for their home improvements. One question we’re often asked is, “What, if anything, has changed about how homeowners decide which home improvement contractor to choose??
Our four generations of experience (and we’re proud to say, unmatched by any company in the NY area) has shown that nothing has changed from a homeowner perspective: This is what they care about by order of priority:
- Value. This goes beyond what people think of as the price of the products. Homeowners define value as the quality of the products, price, warranty, and confidence that the contractor will stand behind their work.
- The experience dealing with a contractor from the initial inquiry to the signing of a contract. Often, homeowners complain about unprofessional, hard-selling sales reps that spend a minimum amount of time at their homes and focus on “closing the sale” with aggressive discounts that are only available at the time of the visit.
- Communications: Are calls or emails answered promptly? Is the contractor genuinely interested in hearing the homeowner’s vision for their home, or are they only interested in selling?
- Reputation. Angi’s ratings and Google reviews are relevant and essential. Still, homeowners are not distracted by numbers alone – they often read the reviews and look for customers that share their experience instead of generic comments like “great contractor, highly recommended.”
- Technology. Homeowners lose sleep over making the wrong decision and strive for “no regrets” – home improvement projects like replacing windows, roofing, or siding represent a significant decision and investment. Contractors that use imaging technology allow buyers to visualize their home’s appearance before deciding on color or style.
“Our biggest lesson is that homeowners want to be kept from being sold!”
They want to be educated, look at replacement windows, roofing, or siding designs and samples, and understand their choices. They emphasize, time and time again, how important it is for a contractor to connect with them as if it was their house they were investing in.
The home improvement industry is saturated with competitors, especially in the highly congested Queens and Long Island areas. In addition, with unlimited options of windows manufacturers, siding, and roofing materials or designs, when homeowners finally sit down and tackle the task of making a choice, it is riddled with confusion and anxiety.
Homeowners seek objective and reliable differentiation beyond prices, discounts, warranties, and testimonials. Of course, a buying decision is based on the available budget, but more often than not, replacing windows, roofing, and siding is a major investment; Homeowners tell us that seek, and will only do business with, contractors that are genuinely interested in their well-being and that their action and behavior are consistent with their promises.
As a family business, our motto has always been the same for four generations and one hundred and four years in business: Signing a contract is the start of our relationship with a homeowner! Our sales reps don’t disappear after they make the sale, and everyone on our team is trained to deliver professional, consistent, and timely communications to our customers. It takes hard work and determination to deliver this level of service, especially with challenges that are beyond our control (supply-chain delays, weather…) – homeowners demand peace-of-mind and the comfort that their contractor is always there for them.
We invite you to experience what we’ve learned in over one hundred years, and we’re confident you won’t be disappointed.
